A Major Confraternity Commission in Quito,

Ecuador: the Church of El Sagrario^

SUSAN V. WEBSTER

On 4 November 1694, members of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament

gathered excitedly in the chapel of San Ildefonso of Quito where
in the Cathedral

they were draw up and sign a contract with the architect who would build their
to
new church. The signing of the contract marked a moment of great triumph for
the confraternity, for it represented the culmination of decades of effort and
planning, both financial and logistical. According to its terms, the confraternity
engaged the architect to undertake "the design and construction of the Church of
El Sagrario starting from its first foundations until it is finished and complete with
the required offices of sacristies, crypts, and all other necessities for the service
of the said Church." The signature of the architect, Jose Jaime Ortiz, along with
those of the governing members of the confraternity and two representatives from
the Cathedral Chapter, appears at theend of the document.
The imposing colonial church of El Sagrario is one of the most well known
historical monuments in Quito (fig. 1). Constructed along the south wall of the
Cathedral, to which it is connected by an interior portal. El Sagrario serves as
parish church for the lively Cathedral sector in the heart of colonial Quito. Despite
its popular and historic status, until now almost nothing has been known of its

origins, authorship, patronage, or process of construction. Even the dating of the

church has been the subject of speculation by historians, although most agree that
itwas begun in the mid-seventeenth century, and that it was completed by 1706.^
Summarizing the state of knowledge about the history of El Sagrario, the great
Ecuadorian art historian Jose Gabriel Navarro lamented, "We have not found the
slightest indication among the archival documents regarding the architect of one

This article is a summary of aspects of a more in-depth study of the Confraternity of the
Most Holy Sacrament and the Church of El Sagrario that I am presently preparing as a
book, which will be published in Spanish in Quito by the Pontificia Universidad CatoHca
del Ecuador and Editorial Abya-Yala in 2001. 1 would like to express my most sincere
gratitude to the Aquinas Foundation and the University of St. Thomas, whose generous
support allowed me to undertake this research in Ecuador during the summer of 2000.
AHNQ Censos y Capellanias, caja 5, expte. 2, fol. 66v. "la fabrica y obra de la Capilla
del Sagrario enpesandola desde sus primeros simientos hasta darla entera y acauada con
las ofi9inas necesarias de sacristias bouedas y demas menesteres para el semi9io de dicha
Capilla."
For example, see Jose Maria Vargas, Patrimonio artistico ecuatoriano (Quito: Editorial
Santo Domingo, 1972), p. 318; Jose Gabriel Navarro, Guia artistica de Quito (Quito: La
Prensa Catolica, 1961), p. 167; Damian Bayon and Murillo Marx, History of South
American Colonial Art and Architecture (Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa, 1989), p. 41.
4 Confratemitas 12:1

Figure 1 : Fa9ade of the Church of El Sagrario, Quito (Photo: Heman Navarrete)

 A Major Confraternity Commission in Quito, Ecuador 5

of the most important monuments of Quitefian architecture . . . The account book

"^'
of its construction [libro defdbrica] does not exist.
The account book of construction has now come to light (fig. 2), and it affords
an opportunity to illuminate not only the historical importance of the building and
the architect, but that of the patron as well.^ The libro defdbrica demonstrates
unequivocally that the sole patron, overseer, and decorator of the church was the
Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament. This confraternity is the earliest
documented brotherhood in Quito, established in 1543, just eight years after the
foundation of the city itself. In this early period, the confraternity was housed in
an adobe and thatch structure on the main plaza that served as the city's first

church. In 1545, the church was elevated to the status of a cathedral, and in 1562
construction began on the building that stands today on the central plaza. Upon
the completion of the Cathedral in 1578-79, the Confraternity of the Most Holy
Sacrament was located in a side chapel which they shared with an altar and
confraternity dedicated to the Virgin of Copacabana for well over a century until
its members were finally able to construct a church of their own in the late

seventeenth century.^
Several copies of the confraternity's earHest rule book survive, all dating
from 1543, the year marked its foundation.^ The confraternity was dedicated
that
to the adoration of the Holy Sacrament, and especially to its salvific powers.
According to the preamble to the ordinances, the founding members decided to
form the confraternity "not solely for the honor of our lord and god more for the
health and salvation of our souls. "^ Given that the Spanish citizens of Quito at

Guia artistica, p. 167."En los papeles del archive no hemos encontrado el mas ligero
indicio del autor de uno de los monumentos mas correctos de la arquitectura quitena . .

Libro de fabrica no existe."

"Libro de la Cofradia del Santissimo Sacramento, que sea alabado, y bendito para
siempre, fii[n]dadaen lacapillade n[uest]ra Senorade Copacabana en la Iglesia Cathedral
de esta Ciudad de San Francisco del Quito: Diolo Bemardino de Anagoytia siendo
Mayordomo desta S[an]ta Cofradia, el ano de 1689." The libro defdbrica is divided into two
parts that are located in separate sections of the Archivo Historico Nacional de Quito: AHNQ
Religiosas, caja 7, expte. 1 -VII- 1692, and AHNQ Censos y Capellanias, caja 5, expte. 2.
For the most recent history of the Cathedral of Quito that is based on primary documents,
see Marcela Alemdn A., Rita Diaz, Nidia G6mez, and Lucia Gal6as, Salvaguarda de la
Catedral Primada de Quito (Quito: Institute Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural, 1997).
References to the chapel in which the Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament was
located appear in the "Libros del Cabildo de la Catedral," Archivo de la Catedral de Quito
(ACQ), especially Libro 9 (1646-73), fols. 291v-292r, et passim.
AHBCQ Fondo Jijon y Camaano, primera serie, 7/10; 17/11. Three copies of the rule
book of 1543 exist among the cited documents: one is dated Febmary, 1543; one in
August, 1543; one is undated, but obviously from the same year. The mle books exhibit
only minor differences. To avoid confusion, hereafter I will refer only to the two dated
rule books, which are referenced following their catalog numbers as 7/10 (August) and
7/11 (Febmary).
Ibid., 7/10, fol. 172v. "no solamente para la honrra de n[uest]ro dios y senor mas para la
salud y salua9ion de n[uest]ras anymas."
 Confratemitas 12:1

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11

alabado^y bcndrto
para lieinpre.llT-

pi Hade lira

Dec 07 '^f
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Figure 2: Frontispiece of the Libro de Fdbrica of the Confraternity of the Most

Holy Sacrament, 1689-1716 (Photo: Heman Navarrete)
 A Major Confraternity Commission in Quito, Ecuador 7

that time were the conquistadors and first colonists who found themselves in an
unfamiliar land distant from the spiritual traditions and comforts of Europe, they
likely felt a strong impetus to form a confraternity in order to ensure the salvation
of their souls and an appropriate Christian burial. The establishment of the
Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament afforded above
means of securing all a
important spiritual insurance, and the confraternity documents emphasize that
many such benefits would accrue to their members. The preamble to the ordi-
nances highlights these attractive features of membership, stating, "And to incline
us toward [the Holy Sacrament] in love And devotion, the most holy pope paul
III now has conceded us many graces And indulgences And remissions [of sins]

and pardons to all those who become brothers of the Most Holy Sacrament And
who accompany it when it goes out to visit a sick person."^ Indeed, there was
ample incentive to join the confraternity, for its ordinances are followed by
fourteen folios that list more than 125 separate occasions in order of feast days,
week days, and special actions and devotions on which the myriad indulgences,
graces, pardons, and remissions accorded to the confraternity might be gained by
its members. ^^
Following European tradition, the confraternity also played a philanthropic
role in the community. The principal act of charity undertaken by the Confrater-
nity of the Most Holy Sacrament, and the focus of much of its day to day activity,
was and dying. Indeed, the confraternity came to identify
that of visiting the sick
itself over time as that of the "Most Holy Sacrament and Viaticum of the Sick."

Several chapters in the rule books directly address these procedures, describing
the procession with the viaticum under a baldachin to the house of the afflicted
accompanied by confraternity members carrying lighted candles.* Confraternity ^

records demonstrate that this practice was extended to the poor and needy of the
community, including those incarcerated in the local prisons. In a related manner,
the confraternity also functioned as a burial society, organizing funeral proces-
sions (with a certain number of members and lighted candles), and offering
masses and prayers for the souls of the deceased. Burial benefits were extended
to the families of members and, in keeping with the confraternity's charitable role,
to poor members of the community.*^
Membership was not limited to Spaniards, for
in the confraternity apparently
according to its rules, anyone who was "calm and of good life and reputation and
not rebellious so that the cabildo might remain in peace and tranquillity" might
be accepted as a member.*^ Not surprisingly, however, no indigenous names

9 Ibid., fols. 172v-173r. "E por nos ynclinar en su amor E devocion nos con9edio su
santidad del submo pontifi9e paolo ter9io agora reciuen muchas gracias E yndulgencias
E remisiones e perdones a todos aquellos que fueren cofrades del sanctissimo sacramento
E le acompanaren quando saliere a visitar algun enfermo."
10 Ibid., 7/1 1, fols. 194r-200v.
11 Ibid., 7/10, fols. 173v-174r.
12 Ibid. 7/10., fols. 174v-176r.
13 Ibid., 7/10, fol. 173v. "quieta y de buena vida e fama e no reboltosa porquel cauyldo este
8 Confratemitas 12:1

appear on the early membership rosters, and the only women initially permitted
to join were the wives of members. All members were required to swear an oath
to uphold the rules of the confraternity, and were forbidden from discussing any
of their activities outside of the meetings.
The first members of the confraternity were among the upper echelons of the
Spanish conquistadors and colonists, and included numerous captains and city
The Rule Book of August 1543 is signed by four founding members,
officials.
Captain Fernando Ortiz y Mena, Captain Francisco Ruiz, Pedro de Baesde, and
Hernando de la Parra.^"^ Historical records show that at least two of these
members, Francisco Ruiz and Hernando de la Parra, were among the founding
citizens of Quito.During the sixteenth century, both held large encomiendas, or
land and labor grants, in the region. ^^ In a document of 1572, Francisco Ruiz is
cited as one of the two wealthiest citizens in the Audiencia of Quito. ^^ The
membership roster demonstrates that numerous captains, civil authorities, and
encomenderos }oined the confraternity shortly after it was founded. ^^
Over the following centuries, the confraternity maintained a membership of
elite and wealthy citizens, and thus developed into a powerful and financially

sound institution. Like most confraternities, the finances of the Most Holy
Sacrament were derived from membership fees and dues, alms collected in the
streets and offered by members, testamentary bequests, and above all, censos, or
the interest on rental properties owned by the institution. In 1630, plans for the
construction of a more ample and appropriate private chapel were discussed by
the confraternity and the Cathedral Chapter; however, financial and logistical
problems prevented the project from moving forward. ^^ By 1693, however, the
confraternity had substantially increased its revenue from censos, which in that
year accounted for 60% of its annual income, and alms and donations had reached
an all-time high. ^^ The burgeoning economic prosperity of the brotherhood finally
provided the means to construct a new building entirely dedicated to its purposes.
Negotiations with the Cathedral Chapter in the early 1690s suggested the use of
a large space located directly to the south of the Cathedral. However, the existence
of a ravine in this location would require a feat of engineering in order to construct
a stable base.^^ In search of a solution, the confraternity set about locating and

en paz y en quietud."
14 Ibid., 7/10, fol. 176v.
1 Hernando de la Parra was granted the title to Chumaque, Caque, and Canares by President
Gasca, and Francisco Ruiz was given the estates of Canzacoto, Pingolqui, Pifo, Inga,
Pilloli, Chananchillo, and Uyumbicho by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro. See Pilar
Ponce Leiva, ed., Relaciones Historico-Geogrdficas de la Audiencia de Quito (Quito:
MARKA and Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1992) I, pp. 202, 204.
16 Ibid., p. 206.
17 AHBCQ Fondo Jijon y Camaano, primera serie, 7/11, fols. 192r-193v.
1 Jos6 Maria Vargas, Patrimonio artistico ecuatoriano (Quito: Editorial Santo Domingo,
1972), pp. 317-18.
19 AHNQ Censos y Capellanias, caja 5, expte. 2, fols. 48r-49r.
20 In fact, the architect did undertake a feat of engineering in order to construct the
 A Major Confraternity Commission in Quito, Ecuador 9

engaging an architect to prepare the foundation and to design and oversee the
construction of the church.
Fortuitously, a young Valencian architect recently arrived from Spain, Jose
Jaime Ortiz, was passing through Quito in early November 1694 en route to Lima,
Peru, in search of major commissions.^^ The confraternity members were
undoubtedly delighted to discover his presence in the city, and must have acted
quickly in order to secure his services. According to the minutes of a cabildo
(board meeting), celebrated on 5 November 1694, the brothers noted that "finding
[present] in this city Don Jaime Ortiz, who is said to be an architect, and having
been informed by the brothers that he is an expert in the art, it appeared to them
appropriate that the said person undertake the said work and construction . . . and
they signed a contract with the said architect so that he could begin the said
work."^^ The confraternity agreed to pay architect the impressive sum of 4,500
patacones; 2,250 upon the initiation of the work, 1,125 at the halfway point, and
the remaining 1,125 patacones upon its completion as specified in the contract.^^
In the subsequent cabildo of 12 March 1695, the governing board of the
confraternity added a clause to the contract with the architect in which they
stipulated that, in addition to overseeing the project, Ortiz be required to work
personally on the construction, and that he be visibly present each day on the job.
For this added obhgation, the board awarded him an annual salary of 100
patacones in addition to the previously agreed upon fee.^"* Construction thus
began on the Church of El Sagrario in 1695 under close supervision by both the
architect and the confraternity.
The libro de fdbrica demonstrates that the confraternity was intimately
involved in every aspect of the construction and decoration of El Sagrario. Dating
from the time of the architectural commission, special officers were elected to
oversee specific aspects of the work. In the cabildo of 12 March 1695, in addition
to the election of the traditional offices of mayordomo mayor, a series of subsid-
iary offices (mayordomos menores) were created, including those of mayordomo
of the quarry and mayordomo of the construction.^^ As the building progressed,

foundation of the church in this difficult site. In 1699, the architect lodged a complaint
with the ecclesiastical authorities in which he demanded that the confraternity be required
to pay him more than that stipulated in the original contract due to the extra time, effort,
and risk to his own life involved in the process of laying the foundations. The architect
describes these vicissitudes in detail in AAQ Cofradias, caja 2 (1699), fols. lr-16r. I am
grateful to my research assistant, Gaby Costa, for bringing this document to my attention.
21 Ibid., fol. Ir. This information is drawn from Ortiz's own testimony.
22 AHNQ Censes y Capellanias, caja 5, expte. 2, fol. 66r.
23 Ibid., fol. 67r. The patacon was a silver coin weighing one ounce, and was the coin of
greatest value during the colonial period. See Tamara Estupinan Viteri, Diccionario
bdsico del comercio colonial quiteno (Quito: Ediciones del Banco Central del Ecuador,
1997), p. 262.
24 AHNQ Censes y Capellanias, caja 5, expte. 2, fol. 69v. Several years after the work was
initiated, the architect's salary was raised to 200 patacones per annum.
25 Ibid., fol. 69r.
10 Confratemitas 12:1

the numbers of mayordomos menores increased, and a variety of new offices were
created to address specific needs. For example, in the cabildo of 4 April 1704,
the office of mayordomo of the quarry and the facade was created, marking the
year in which the special stone for the facade was first quarried.^^ The mayordomo
who served as overseer of the facade until its completion in 1706, Gabriel de
Escorza, was apparently so proud of the results of his efforts that he had an
inscription to that effect carved on the entablature above the main portal, which
reads: "This facade was begun under the care of D. Gabriel de Escorza Escalante
on 30 April of the year 1699 and it was completed 2 June of 1706."^^ The libro
de fdbrica demonstrates that Gabriel de Escorza was consistently re-elected to
the post of mayordomo of the quarry and facade from 1699 to 1706.'^^
The confraternity officers maintained close supervision of the materials and
processes of construction, and worked to ensure quality control. In 1704, for
example, a deHvery of 500 bricks was summarily rejected by one of the mayor-
domos because they were "badly fired and [too] small and will not serve for the
work."^^ In another case, one of the mayordomo menores was fired from his
position "for not complying with his obligations," and was immediately replaced
by another member of the Confraternity.^^ It is worth noting that the Confraternity
officers elected to oversee the various aspects of construction in most cases
pursued their charges as full time employment, and were well paid for their work.
Detailed expenditures for the materials of construction, as well as the man-
power, are recorded in the libro de fdbrica. Payments for huge quantities of brick,
stone, tiles, and slaked lime dominate the yearly expenses throughout the period
of construction. Notable events, however, such as the laying of the first stone in
1695,-^^ or the consecration of the church in 1715,^^ are mentioned only in passing
reference to their associated expenditures. Among more interesting expenses
the
in terms of construction processes are the many payments for mule-loads of
pumice stone that were brought from a special quarry in Latacunga, located nearly
50 miles over steep and treacherous Andean mountain passes from the city of
Quito.^^ These records indicate that the lightweight, volcanic stone was used to
construct the vaults — an ingenious and appropriate structural innovation.
The and payments to the many carpenters, masons, workmen, and
salaries
laborers are also recorded in detail. In this respect, it is worth noting that although
the confraternity financed and oversaw the building process, the actual construc-

26 Ibid., fol. 171 r.

27 "Comenso esta portada al cuidado de D. Gabriel de Escorza Escalante en 30 abril del ano
de 1 699 I se acabo 2 de junio de 1 706."
28 This inscription led some scholars to mistakenly include Gabriel de Escorza among the
possible architects of El Sagrario. For example, see Navarro, Guia artistica, p. 167.
29 AHNQ Censos y Capellanias, caja 5, expte. 2, fol. 179v. "mal cocidos y pequefios y no
sirven para la obra."
30 Ibid., fol. 228r. ". . . por no cumplir con sus obligaciones."
31 Ibid., fol. 67v.
32 Ibid., fol. 277r.

33 See for example, ibid., fol. 1 17v.

 A Major Confraternity Commission in Quito, Ecuador 1

tion of the church was undertaken almost exclusively by native workers. Records
of payment to the "albafiiles, indios y peones" (carpenters, Indians, and peons)
dominate the accounts of expenditure, and specific names are rarely associated
with these workers. The sculptural decoration of the facade and the interior of the
church are also documented as the work of indigenous artists. Thus, like most
colonial buildings, El Sagrario was designed and overseen by Spaniards, but was
constructed and decorated by native artisans.
By 1699, the construction of the church was well underway: the walls and
pillars were dome, and cupolas were being erected, and the
in place, the vaults,
facade was initiated. The imposing size of the building and the rapidity with which
it took shape must have impressed the civic authorities, for in this year the

architect Ortiz appears for the first time in the documents as "arquitecto mayor
nombrado por la ciudad" (master architect, named by the city), and is thereafter
referred to as "Captain" Ortiz.^"^ The building also impressed local religious
two years later, with the vaults and dome in place and the
authorities, for just
facade well underway, Ortiz was awarded the commission as architect of the
church of the Monastery of La Merced.^^ He undertook this new construction
while the Church of El Sagrario was still being completed.
The overall design and expanse of the church of El Sagrario is impressive.
It is a three-aisle, rectangular-plan church with massive interior pillars arranged
in the form of a cross. The crossing is capped by a high dome with an ample
lantern, and three smaller cupolas provide light for each of the side aisles. The
massive dome is decorated on the interior with polychrome sculptural reUefs and
elaborate mural paintings, and cartouches containing relief sculptures of the four
evangelists adorn the pendentives. The interior is imposing in terms of the
relationship of the soaring vaults to the relatively narrow width of the nave. The
church contains an ample sacristy, a baptistery, ^^ and several offices, and six
impressive Baroque altarpieces occupy the side aisles, leading the eye to the
towering Baroque main altar that dominates the apse. One particularly spectacular
feature of the church is the mampara, an elaborately carved, polychromed, and
gilded inner portal, that was completed by the famed artist Bernardo de Legarda
and others in 1747.^^
Perhaps the most impressive element of the church of El Sagrario is the
commanding facade (fig. 1), which was constructed between 1699 and 1706 in a
restrained Baroque style. The facade is divided into two stories that are separated
by heavy projecting cornices, and is crowned by a dramatically projecting broken
pediment. The lower story is supported by two groups of three Ionic columns that
are balanced on the second story by equal groupings of shorter columns of the
Corinthian order. Imposing stone sculptures of Saints Peter and Paul occupy high

34 Ibid.,fol. 117r.
35 Luis Octavio Proafio, La Merced, arte e historia (Quito: Rafael Rivadeneira Palacios,
1989), p. 96.
36 The present baptistery chapel is a later addition, constructed in 1769 (Navarro, Quia
artistica, p. 169).
37 Vargas, Patrimonio artistica, p. 319.
12 Confratemitas 12:1

positions to either side of the second story, and just below them stand sculptures
personifying the virtues of Faith and Hope.
The primary identity of the patron, however, is described within the vertical
axis of the facade (figs. 1 and 3). On the lower level, the sculpted keystone of the
portal depicts a cartouche containing two angels that support the sacramental
chaUce. Personifying the confraternity's charitable role, the virtue of Charity in
the traditional form of a maternal figure nurturing three infants appears in a large
sculptural relief panel that is centered above the main portal.^^ A third indication
of the confraternity's identity Hkely appeared directly above in the large niche set
within the dramatic broken pediment that crowns the facade. As seen in early
twentieth-century photographs, this niche may originally have held a large sculp-
ture of a monstrance housing the Holy Sacrament.^^ Thus, the major devotional
and charitable roles of the confraternity are publicly presented within the vertical
axis of the facade. Additional sculptures once adorned the niches that occupy the
spaces beside the column groupings on the lower level. Ornately carved planiform
relief sculptures decorate all flat areas of the facade, incorporating grotesque
masks within complex organic forms and strapwork.
By 1714, the decoration of the interior of the church was nearing completion,
and preparations were underway for the festivities to accompany its consecration
and the official installation of the Holy Sacrament in the newly-constructed
tabernacle. In the cabildo of 22 March 1714, the confraternity appointed several
members to take charge of the ephemeral decorations of all the chapels, the
sacramental plays {autos sacramentales) and fireworks displays that were to
accompany the festivities."^^ The preparations were apparently extensive and were
undertaken well in advance, for is not until 14 February 1715 that the church was
consecrated, and the installation of the Holy Sacrament was appropriately delayed
until the day of Corpus Christi of the same year."^^ The expenses incurred by the
confraternity in the Corpus festivities that year were understandably far more
extensive than they had been in the past. The libro de fdbrica permits us to

38 The Ecuadorian art historian Jose Gabriel Navarro first identified the figures in this relief
as "a group of angels" {La escultura en el Ecuador [Madrid: Antonio Marzo, 1929], p.
125), and later as a "Nativity" scene {El arte en laprovincia de Quito [Mexico: Instituto
Panamericano de Geografia e Historia, 1960], p. 47). Clearly, recognition of the patron
of the church would have precluded such mis-identifications.
39 A sculpted monstrance crowning the facade would clearly be the most appropriate image,
and photographs from the early 1920s shows just such a sculpture located within this
niche. For example, see Carlos de Gangotena y Jijon, Monografia ilustrada de la
Provincia de Pichincha (Quito, 1922), n.p. Further supporting this notion is the fact that
sculpted monstances adorn the uppermost levels of the facades of many Latin American
Sagrario churches, including those at Mexico City and Bogota.
40 AHNQ Censos y Capellanias, caja 5, expte. 2, fol. 266r-267r. It is worth noting in this

regard, that the official elected to oversee the festivities {prioste) was the Count of Selva
Florida, don Diego Ponce de Le6n Castillejo, a prominent member of the upper nobility
whose election to the this position characterizes the nature of leadership in the
Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament.
41 Ibid., fol. 277r.
A Major Confraternity Commission in Quito, Ecuador 1
14 Confratemitas 12:1

envision something of the nature of the celebration in the notation of expenditures

for 10 pounds of incense, a wide range of fireworks, musicians, singers, and
numerous, elaborate, newly-commissioned ecclesiastical vestments, chalices,
and other sacred utensils."*^ Corpus Christi in Quito in 1715 must have been an
impressive celebration to behold, as the Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament
celebrated the culmination and savored the fruits of close to a century of its
planning, labor, and determination embodied in the translation and installation of
the Holy Sacrament in its impressive new Church of El Sagrario.
At the time of the installation festivities, the confraternity had invested nearly
a quarter of a century and more than 100,000 patacones in the construction and
architectural decoration of the church (excluding the side altars, which were
commissioned later). The three-aisle church was constructed with side altars in
mind, for three cupolas run the length of each of the aisles, providing illumination
for the large altarpieces that were eventually installed therein. Indeed, by the end
of the eighteenth century. El Sagrario had become a haven for confraternities, as
the brotherhoods of San Pedro, San Pablo, Nuestra Senora de la Presentacion, the
Escuela de Cristo, the Benditas Animas, and Nuestra Senora de Copacabana,
among others, constructed elaborate altarpieces of their own along the side aisles
of the nave."^^
During the remainder of the colonial era. El Sagrario enjoyed a high status
as one of the most prestigious and well-appointed churches in Quito. Numerous
eighteenth-century chroniclers and travelers found it notable and praiseworthy.
For example, Jorge Juan and Juan Antonio Ulloa, Spanish scientists who passed
through Quito in the 1741, remarked that the Church of El Sagrario, "in addition
to being very spacious, and [made] completely of Stone, is of beautiful Architec-
ture, and the exterior is no less harmonious than the well designed interior,"
adding that it "is rich in all decorations, as much in Silver as in Textiles, and very
costly Ornaments.'"*"^ In 1766, a previous governor of the Audiencia of Quito,
Dionisio de Alsedo y Herrera, submitted a report to the Spanish Crown in which
he placed the Church of El Sagrario on a par with the Cathedral itself. Alsedo y
Herrera reported that in Quito there were

so many monuments of true religion, and devout and Catholic magnificence, such
as the greatest and most sumptuous temple of the Cathedral, [and] another
contiguous church, with the name of the Chapel of El Sagrario, and two great

42 Ibid., fols. 285r-285v.

43 The remaining records in the Archive de la Iglesia del Sagrario (APSQ) document the
presence of seven confraternities in El Sagrario in the eighteenth and nineteenth
at least

centuries, and others may also have been located there during this time. For anyone
interested in pursuing research on these confraternities, ample registers and documents
exist,most dating from the eighteenth century.
44 Jorge Juan and Juan Antonio de Ulloa, Relacion historica del Viage a la America
meridional (Madrid: Antonio Marin, 1748) Libro V, Cap. IV, pp. 354-55. "fuera de ser
muy capaz, y toda de Piedra, tiene bella Arquitectura, y no es menos harmoniosa la
exterior que bien distribuida la de adentro," [ ] "es rica en todos adomos, assi de Plata,
como de Telas, y muy costosos Omamentos."
 A Major Confraternity Commission in Quito, Ecuador 1

exterior doors and one interior [door] that connect them, so that they rival one
another in the grandeur of the buildings and the services and adornments of their
cults; and in the latter [El Sagrario], [there are] two resident priests with their
assistants for the administration of the extensive parishioners of its most principal
and distinguished citizens, that occupy the largest and most expansive part of the
"^^
city center.

Today, El Sagrario remains one of the most important and frequented historic
churches in the old colonial centre of Quito; however, it should now be recognized
not solely for its magnificent architecture, but also as a major monument to the
reverence, dedication, and determination of its patron: the Quitenan Confraternity
of the Most Holy Sacrament.

University of St. Thomas

Bibliography
Archives
AAQ Archivo del Arzobispado de Quito
ACQ Archivo de la Catedral de Quito
AHBCQ Archivo Historico del Banco Central, Quito
AHNQ Archivo Historico Nacional, Quito
APSQ Archivo de la Parroquia del Sagrario, Quito

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Primada de Quito. Quito: Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural, 1997.
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45 Quoted in Ponce Leiva, ed., Relaciones Historico-Geogrdficas, H, p. 421. "tantos

monumentos de veradera religion y magnificencia pia y cat61ica, como el mayor y mas
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